I was thinking about an old 'baby' of mine recently.
In my late teens he was one of a few kids I used to babysit.
He was simply adorable.
This little boy was loved by everyone. At Mass, all the old ladies would fuss over him like he was their grandchild. And younger women wanted a child like him.
So I had competition for his affections lol.
Looking back, he was probably a little 'alpha' in the making.
He was certainly unusual (no bias on my part lol).
Most people, after Mass, would spend a minute or two in quiet reflection in front of one of the statues of a saint, or Our Lady, or The Blessed Sacrament.
This kid (aged 3) would head straight for the statue of Our Lord and ask, in a loud voice, arms folded across his chest, head tilted (yes, his alpha pose!)...
"And how are you today, Sweet Jesus?"
Out of the mouths of babes...
As a teenager now, I am sure he would be upset if I reminded him of this. 'Street cred' is everything to him now, at least in front of his friends.
Unless I framed it differently of course and 'bigged up' how 'alpha' this whole episode was, to me :-)
I mean, it is pretty alpha to stand up in front of God and ask how He is, no?
Who asks God how He is?
I never asked God how He was my entire life.
I only hoped he cared how I was...
My 2 minutes in front of the statue of Our Lord was never about Him. It was all about me.
You know how dogs give you that 'begging' look when you are cooking and they can smell dinner?
This is how I must look (to God) when I am praying for my 101 things:
It is apparent from the many Bible stories that Jesus loved women. He was certainly surrounded by women wherever he went, which would be strange for the kind of figure he was - a man with no ties to a family unit and with 12 men followng him around and preaching.
The women of Jerusalem were crying for him as he was led to where he would be crucified.
Martha and Mary would invite him over for inner with their brother Lazarus.
Mary Magdalene kissed his feet.
Veronica wiped his face when it was soaked with blood.
Jesus was an alpha alright :-)
And women flocked to him.
But does God love women more than men?
As I inch my way towards drafting a post about the various aspects if feminism, I wonder if 'Christian feminism' sees women as more automatically deserving of God's love than men?
I have reason to suspect this.
The moral superiority over men that is blatantly displayed by some Christian women.
The whole 'man up' thing is perhaps a way of saying, 'I am God's Princess! You have to fulfil my needs without any effort on my part!'
The 'God forgives all' meme, which somehow only applies to women.
The 'God is my protector' idea, which somehow also means that an Earthly man who does the protecting doesn't get a cut in the 'thanks'.
And this. God has been hijacked for the feminist cause since 1982...
These scenarios may happen in subtle ways.
But mostly, they are 'in your face'.
Which is what the brash feminists do best.
I wonder how God feels about this misuse of His name?
How does He feel about being 'volunteered' as a white knight?
Without His consent...
Has anyone asked Him?
God is certainly 'alpha' in Manosphere parlance. Afterall, there are many women who call themselves 'brides of Christ', officially or not, as the case may be. That's a pretty big harem.
But the whiteknighting thing makes him look 'beta'.
Does He mind about that?
The married men who complain that they get nagged by their wives, spare a thought for God.
He gets nagged everyday by millions of single women praying for a good husband :P
This post should really have been entitled, 'Prayers for a husband the Red Pill way'.
For, in the spirit of my 'baby' above, instead of hassling God for what we want, how about a slight change of frame?
Something like this?
Dear God/Sweet Jesus,
How are you today?
My day was great, hope yours was better.
And if it wasn't, how so?
Since I can't see you or hear you or touch you, how can I make it better for someone I can see or hear or touch?
Do you have someone in mind?
I wouldn't mind at all if he happens to be tall, handsome and rich.
I won't be fussy. I'll take whatever you can give me. Besides, I heard the short, ugly and poor ones are all taken...
Anyhow, you take care of yourself.
Till next time, stay blessed.
See?
How could he say no...
Anyhow, off to say my night prayers now...
12 comments:
@ST…
Of course God is an Alpha – he even says so (Rev 1:8)… thing is he is also an Omega. Try explaining that in game terminology. ; - )
You know buttering Him up won’t work… you can’t game God.
Instead of praying for stuff I just thank Him for what He’s already given me. Not nearly enough probably.
Grasshopper
When I was a kid parents used to ban me from their yards. They thought I was strange and maybe a little bit of a monster. What Greek letter describes that, I don't know.
Hmnn, I think it might be hard to game God. Talk about aloof. No amount of tears or wheedling will make him budge unless he deems it, lol.
White knighting his image on the other hand......
My eldest attended a church school. The church on the property held services twice on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, and parents were expected to make at least one of the services.
I have to admit....the Jesus is my boyfriend type songs were a bit out of my comfort zone.
And the way the songs and the sermons went, Jesus was just waiting to fulfill my every want and need. He's patient and kind and loving and good.And of course, Jesus loves me unconditionally.
Nice enough people and a nice enough church. And I take great comfort that the Almighty loves me despite my flaws, lol. But quite a lot of emphasis on the comfort, not a lot on the fearsome and awesome. A few sermons on smiting and such might have woken up the men,lol.
He is totally alpha... He listen to lot of people but he just don't care and don't even lift a finger. If something miraculous happen your not even sure you can thanks him.
"I never asked God how He was my entire life.
I only hoped he cared how I was...
My 2 minutes in front of the statue of Our Lord was never about Him. It was all about me."
I'd be interested to hear from other readers of yours to see if there's a drastic difference between the sexes on this. While I was never as.... much of a showman, as the boy, I did regularly ask how I could serve God in his wishes and plans.
I think most of this was a desire for knowledge on my purpose or plan in life. I'm not sure if I'd say it was either selfish nor altruistic, but more a mutually beneficial desire. As far as I can tell, this seems like it would be naturally a stronger inclination in men due to our ability to directly change the world around us rather than indirectly, as most of women's strengths are suited towards.
On the subject of Jesus as the ultimate white knight/alpha for Christian women, I think it depends on their viewpoints on it. But that both can be true depending on how she views the church - as something to serve or something serving her. Obviously one is incorrect, but reality has never slowed feminists down. Let alone stop them.
And.... If I may be crass for a minute... When I got to college a lot of my high school friends I stayed in touch with and I developed a saying for women like this. "Oh... She sucks too much of the Jesus cock, doesn't she?"
The implication being one of two things. Either that she has such high standards that nothing less than Jesus would do for a boyfriend, though she does remain chaste. The other being that she was a 'loose christian' in all of the moral and sexual implications, then went back and believed she could 'please Jesus' into her own forgiveness.
And I'm done being crass. Sorry if the brief glimpse into the men's 'locker room' of discussion has offended feminine minds, but I thought you might benefit by some insight on how men can view this subject.
@ leap
As a child, until I was about 12, I thought about these things because I thought that I was going to be a nun.(Yes, I was a Protestant, so....that would have been interesting, lol)
I'd make promises with God. Prayers every night, promising not to swear for a year. I tried to be mindful of my own actions and reactions. When I was 11, I made the promise to stop fighting, or at least not starting fights.( A tough decision as my mother's liberalism insisted on my attending inner city schools. Plus my ability to fight was a source of status.)
This was the beginning of sorting out the difference between tough and strong. It also strengthened my resolve in femininity. I'd always been left alone to be as nice or girly girl as I wanted to be because of my ability to fight. Other girls were not as fortunate. I had to find new ways to assert that without being considered weak.
As an adult this was more about being a good person and getting clear about what I stood for and then doing it. As an individual,wife,mother, and community community member, and church member.
@ Just Visiting
Makes sense.
It's becoming more and more clear to me that the only good channels for hypergamy, religion, and solispistic tendencies of women are to be found in those that value community. These values channel the features of women along a positive route for her own long term happiness as well as that of those around her.
The same can be said for me though. It seems there's less of them that believe in a duty, pride, and honor to themselves and a selfish purpose, at least at this point in history, but they certainly still exist.
@ Grasshopper,
"Of course God is an Alpha – he even says so (Rev 1:8)… thing is he is also an Omega."
Hahahahaha! Oh yes! I forgot about that :-)
"You know buttering Him up won’t work… you can’t game God."
Yes yes, but you can't blame a girl for trying :P
"Instead of praying for stuff I just thank Him for what He’s already given me. Not nearly enough probably."
Really?
You know, I have had to learn to do this. It never came naturally to me.
I think you and Leap are onto something here.
Leap also says something along the lines of what you say:
"...I did regularly ask how I could serve God in his wishes and plans."
Maybe men are just more grateful in general than women? I don't think it's anything to do with feminism as such...or is it?
I don't know.
I just am aware that I was never really grateful for the good things in my life. I just expected them to be there. Which is totally wrong. A slap in the face of God.
@ Bob,
"What Greek letter describes that, I don't know."
I think NC has the perfect answer to this conundrum of yours. I think he would answer 'upsilon'.
:-)
@ Anonymous,
"He listen to lot of people but he just don't care and don't even lift a finger."
See? I had the exact same attitude as you!
Nevermind that I had a lot of good things to be grateful for. The one bad thing that happened to me would be translated in my mind as 'God NEVER listens'!
:-)
Terrible...
@ Leap,
You are definitely onto something here.
This:
"The other being that she was a 'loose christian' in all of the moral and sexual implications, then went back and believed she could 'please Jesus' into her own forgiveness."
I keep delving back into this subject of how the genders relate to God because I find it hugely interesting and even entertaining!
I do think women try to 'Girl Game' God. I really do!
In other words, exactly how we would treat just about any other alpha we like :-)
I do it. But apparently I am not the worst :-)
As in the example you give, some women actually try to 'seduce' God. It's weird and mildly disturbing and much much further down the line than my girly crush on The Pope, I think...
There is definitely a sense of a 'relationship' with God among the two types of woman you describe.
And in implying this, I am also wondering if the fact that we women appear more 'religious' (note I didn't say 'moral') is actually more to do with this almost 'romantic' phenomenon than any higher motives :-)
Now I am getting ever closer to that female locker room...
But I do sometimes wonder about the use of the phrase 'Jesus is my boyfriend' and similar assertions...
What's with that exactly?
Is this healthy?
What happens in the mind of women who think like this, in the event of a breakup?
Bearing in mind that this boyfriend is unlike any other...
"It's becoming more and more clear to me that the only good channels for hypergamy, religion, and solispistic tendencies of women are to be found in those that value community."
Agreed.
@ JV,
"I'd make promises with God."
Hahahaha!
Bargaining?
Oooooh!
*sharp intake of breath*
That NEVER worked for me, JV.
'Cos I'd always have trouble delivering whatever I had promised.
Hm, not keeping my end of a contract. Sound familiar fellas?
:-)
lol, there was bargaining alright. Especially before a test. But a lot of it came from a genuine place. I think that I also connected Christianity with the values of another time. And that I hoped that some of that would rub off on me. This probably stems from my grandparent's who were very old fashioned, very religious, and whom I thought the world of.
I had to laugh at your "list" for God. And the men think the infamous laundry list is bad, lol.
@ Leap
A sense of community and FAMILY is important. (I grew up and around first,second,third, fourth,and fifth cousins.) I can't praise the value of extended family enough. The good times , values and always having someone who understands.
I think that a lot of the hypergamy issues with my family members were solved by marrying early and having children later. Couple that with religion and yes, solipsism and I think you end up with stable people, marriages and communities. Most of the time.
@ ST
Your comment about God being nagged by women's prayers made me think of an old SNL skit, The Pious Housewife. She prays before doing any task and eventually Jesus shows up to have a word with her about it.
I
ST:
Who asks God how He is?
I never asked God how He was my entire life.
I only hoped he cared how I was...
My 2 minutes in front of the statue of Our Lord was never about Him. It was all about me.
I wonder if 'Christian feminism' sees women as more automatically deserving of God's love than men?
Me (PVW here):
My parents' brand of raising a child Roman Catholic in some ways might as well have been "fire and brimstone" Protestant, ie., along the lines of Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God".
I was to be suitably grateful and humble for God's blessings, because they can be gone in a moment. Without God's blessings, I would not survive.
My brand of Protestantism, and dare I say, feminist theology, says that if anything, the social and cultural mileus in which the church existed encouraged corruption of Jesus' original message of respect for women.
So men have traditionally seen themselves as more worthy than women. My view is that men and women are equally worthy, not one over the other.
So for me, as I became more and more Protestant in outlook, I realized more and more that the male hierarchy would deny me my sense of call and my ability to serve God, merely because of my gender.
Beyond that, any sense of call in the context of the tradition would have required me to become a nun and deny the most important aspects of my femininity--marriage and family.
As it is now, my tradition can recognize my call, notwithstanding my gender, and younger women in particular can experience their sense of call in the context of wanting to marry and have a family.
And I always imagined serving God through the possibility of ordination, even though I am not currently interested in discernment!
Dedicated lay leadership is where I find I do my best work, but again, it is a context in which my gifts for ministry matter, and not my gender, in a religious context in which lay and ordained people are respected and expected to lead.
I am seeing this reaffirmed through the work I do at the diocesan level, diocesan committees, conferences and so forth, and at the church level, serving as lay Eucharistic minister.
@ PVW,
"My brand of Protestantism, and dare I say, feminist theology, says that if anything, the social and cultural mileus in which the church existed encouraged corruption of Jesus' original message of respect for women.
So men have traditionally seen themselves as more worthy than women."
I don't really understand this, PVW. Could you please elaborate?
ST:
"My brand of Protestantism, and dare I say, feminist theology, says that if anything, the social and cultural mileus in which the church existed encouraged corruption of Jesus' original message of respect for women.
So men have traditionally seen themselves as more worthy than women."
I don't really understand this, PVW. Could you please elaborate?
My reply:
I'd say part of this is on the lines of those who argued in response to my discussions of feminism, to beware of Greeks bearing gifts!
The early church fathers did have some views which from our perspectives can seem very sexist; they are emblematic of the time in which they were thinking, ie. Augustine, ie.: http://heritage.villanova.edu/vu/heritage/allthings/2001SU.htm.
And these attitudes not only were reflected in church practices, but throughout social and cultural institutions from time immemorial!
So what are we to make of them today, when we are in a more enlightened time? Should we take those interpretations as gospel today?
Or early church practices; women once served as deacons. This is an early church practice that welcomed women's gifts to ministry, similar to the ways in which Jesus respected women and their gifts for ministry. So why the change?
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13590
This last in particular is an example which provide bases for some Protestants' claim that the Catholic Church became corrupt in developing practices not reflected in the early church...
Putting aside my issue with women becoming priests; the ideal ministry for me right now, if I wanted it, would be to pursue the diaconate, a ministry which for me would have been available in the early church.
In the Episcopal Church, up until 35 or so years ago, it would have been the only ministry I might pursue. Today, I can pursue it or any other ministry. If I were Roman Catholic, it would not have been an option.
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